Bard Loses $2 Million Verdict in Vaginal-Mesh Trial

Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- C.R. Bard Inc. was told by a jury to
pay $2 million to a woman who alleged the company hid flaws
within some of its vaginal-mesh implants in the first federal
trial of claims over the devices.

Jurors in Charleston, West Virginia, deliberated about 12
hours over two days before finding Murray Hill, New Jersey-based
Bard liable for injuries Donna Cisson blamed on its Avaulta line
of devices. The jury awarded $250,000 in compensatory damages
for Cisson’s injuries plus $1.75 million in punitive damages.

Bard, based in Murray Hill, New Jersey, still faces more
than 8,000 other claims over its Avaulta devices, which Cisson
and other women allege can cause organ damage and make sexual
intercourse painful when the devices erode. Johnson & Johnson,
Endo Health Solutions Inc. and Boston Scientific Corp. face
similar claims that their implants, threaded in place through
vaginal incisions, shrink over time.

“This jury sent a message that Bard needs to change its
ways,” Henry Garrard, one of Cisson’s lawyers, said after the
punitive-damages verdict was announced. “The jury is telling
them this kind of conduct won’t be tolerated.”

Bard officials said they dispute the jury’s finding that
Cisson’s injuries were caused by the vaginal implant and will
appeal.

‘Compelling Grounds’

“We disagree with the verdict reached by the jury and
believe there are compelling grounds for reversal. We will
appeal,” Scott Lowry, a Bard spokesman, said yesterday in an e-mailed statement. “Our Avaulta mesh products are safe and
effective medical devices, cleared by the FDA.”

Bard fell 1.7 percent to $133.47 in New York Stock Exchange
composite trading. The shares have gained 16 percent this year.

The implant cases against Bard and other manufacturers have
been consolidated before U.S. District Judge Joseph Goodwin in
Charleston for pretrial information exchanges. Goodwin, who
presided over Cisson’s case, also will preside over an Aug. 19
trial. Two other trials are set for next month.

Bard officials pulled the Avaulta implants off the market
last year after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ordered
all makers of the devices to study rates of organ damage,
infection and pain during sex linked to their products.

A California state court jury last year found Bard liable
for a woman’s injuries tied to an Avaulta implant in the first
case to go trial in any U.S. court. Jurors ordered the company
to pay $5.5 million in damages. Bard is liable for only $3.6
million of that award under state law.

Mesh Removed

Cisson, a public-health nurse from Toccoa, Georgia, got an
Avaulta Plus implant in 2009 to buttress organs that were
collapsing into her pelvic region, according to evidence in the
case. Cisson had several surgeries to remove the mesh after she
began suffering pain, bleeding and bladder spasms.

Her lawyers argued during the two-week trial that Bard
officials put profits ahead of safety by ignoring warnings about
defects in the Avaulta implants.

Bard officials knew the company was making the implants out
of plastic which carried a warning that it shouldn’t be
permanently implanted in humans, Garrard, an Atlanta-based
lawyer, told jurors.

“You have not heard Bard come here and say we accept
responsibility and want to make amends,” Garrard told jurors in
the punitive-damages phase of the case. He urged them to return
an award that would “get the attention” of the company’s
executives in New Jersey.

‘No Intent’

Bard’s lawyer countered that company officials properly
designed and manufactured the implants and had shown “no intent
to harm” Cisson or other women with the mesh.

The company “complied with industry standards” in
producing the implants and didn’t deserve to be punished, Lori
Cohen, one of Bard’s lawyers, told jurors.

Jurors found that Bard officials defectively designed the
Avaulta implants and failed to properly warn doctors and women
about the mesh’s flaws. They also found that company officials’
mishandling of the devices amounted to “malice, fraud or
wantonness” that deserved punishment, according to the verdict
form in the case.

“The economic cost of ignoring patient safety just got a
little more expensive,” Paul Farrell Jr., a Huntington, West
Virginia-based lawyer representing Cisson, said after the
verdict was announced.

Under Georgia law, 75 percent of Cisson’s $1.75 million
punitive-damages award will be handed over to the state’s
general fund.

Cisson’s first trial, in July, ended in a mistrial after a
witness began testifying about the devices’ marketing and
removal from the market. Goodwin ruled earlier that plaintiffs
couldn’t mention Bard had withdrawn the products.

The Bard consolidated cases are In re C.R. Bard Inc. Pelvic
Repair System Products Liability Litigation, 10-md-02187, and
Cisson’s case is Cisson v. C.R. Bard Inc., 11-cv-00195, U.S.
District Court, Southern District of West Virginia (Charleston).